our report tonight from our pentagon correspondent, jim miklaszewski. >> reporter: wedged deep into a valley surrounded by soaring mountains, combat outpost keating in eastern afghanistan was a death trap. for staff sergeant clint romesha, it was indefensible. >> every which direction you looked, you were looking straight up at the mountain. >> reporter: romesha and the other soldiers at c.o.p. keating were under constant attack. but in october 2009, the taliban launched the most ferocious assault ever. and unleashed a deadly downpour of fire like shooting fish in a barrel. >> 360 degrees, we were taking, you know, rpgs, machine gunfire, mortar fire was coming in. i mean, it was accurate. it was, you know, on target. it was pinning positions down. >> reporter: the americans were vastly outnumbered, nearly 400 to 52. in the first hour, three u.s. soldiers were killed. others pinned down by gunfire. and with no regard for his own life, romesha led five others on a rescue mission. >> it was going to be a knife fight, getting to where we were going. >> reporter: romesha took out an enemy